Improvement in magnesium-lamps



R. H. THURSTON.

Magnesium Lamp.

Patented June 5, 1866..

/N VEN T a R STATES ROBERT H. THURSTON, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAGNESIUiVl-LANIPS.

Specific/ation forming part of Letters Patent No. 55,393. dated June 5, 1866; antedated January 4, 1866.

To all whom t may concern.

Be it known that I, ROBERT H. THURSTON, of the city and county of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lamps for Burning Magnesium and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings making a part of the same,yis a full, clear, and exact'description thereof.

Figure l is a view of the top of the lamp. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is a front elevation. Fig. 8 is a view in section. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are sections of guides b b. Fig. 7 is a view of guides b b from beneath` Figs. 9 and l0 show another forni of guide adapted to the use ot' a single wire.

Hitherto the metal called magnesium, which has recently been employed for illuminating purposes where a light of intense brilliancy is required, has been burned only by feeding the same to the flame from above, in consequence of which the light is not only rendered titful, irregular, and uncertain, but the metal is unnecessarily wasted, and from the deposit of ashes and smoke upon the guides a portion ot' its effectiveness in illuminating power is lost.

My invention consists, rst, in a means for feeding the metal to the llame from below; second, in presenting the ribbons or wires of n'iagnesium so that the section of flame at the point where combustion takes place shall be circular 5 third, in feeding the metal to the ame at a constant and uniform rate of speed by the use of a bucket-wheel actuated by sand or some equivalent thereof as a,motor.

In the accompanying drawings the ribbon of magnesium is to be supposed to be wound in a convenient coil. One end of the ribbon is conducted through the aperture 7c or k', Fig. 8, and between the friction-rollers a a', through the guides b b', to the point where combustion is to take place.

If, as is desirable in all cases where a light of intense brilliancy is required, two shoots of flame are employed, there should be a second coil of metal like the first., the end of which should be conducted to the point ot combustion through friction-rollers and guides identical with and opposite to the set first mentioned. I have exhibited in the drawings such Instead of sand a fluid may be employed, and

with a like result; or, instead of a bucketwheel with sand or fluid as a motor, a simple weight attached to a cord wound around a pulley connected with the driving-wheel A may be used.' In this latter case, however, it would become necessary to make use of a wind or other governor to regulate the motion.

From the main driving-wheel A' motion is communicated in any convenient way to the second wheel, T. The axle-shaft of this second wheel is also the axle-shaft of one of the feedrollers a, which, by a train of gears familiar to any mech anic, can be arranged to impart a motion at the same rate of speed in the opposite direction to its fellow feed-roller; and where two sets of feedrollers are employed, as in the instance shown, by duplicating the gearwheels and pinions necessary for the purpose the second pair of feed-rollers can be made to revolve in opposite directions to each other, and at the same speed as the first pair.

It is obvious that with the arrangement described the coil or coils of magnesium will be fed to the flame from below with a regular rate of motion, which is to be determined by the rate at which the metal is consumed.

The guides b b', through which the metal is conducted to the point where combustion is to take place, are gradually curved longitudinally, so that the section at the point where the metal protrudes will be circular, as shown at Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7; and where two or more sets of guides and two or more strips of ribbon are used the flame will be in the form which belongs to an Argand burner or, in other words, acylindrical flame.

For the purpose of clearing the ash from the guides as the metal is consuming, I arrange an upright shaft, d, which receives a rotary motion from the pinion n, deriving its motion from the Wheel T. 'The upper end of this shaft is provided with a clearer, c, which, revolving with the shaft, removes the ashes, which fall down by their gravityA and are discharged through the spout K, Figs. l, 2, 3.

I do not mean to limit myself to the precise construction and arrangement of the several parts as described; but I mean to claim all variations of form, structure, and arrangement which perform the same inode of operation by equivalent means.

What 1 claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Feeding magnesium upward to the point Where combustion is to take place from below the ame by a regular motion7 to be determined by the rate at which combustion proceeds, in

the manner substantially as described.

scribed, \vitl1 a set or sets of feeding-rollers at a', arrangedand operatedsubstantially as specified. y

ROBERT H. THURSTON. Witnesses:

J oHN D. THURsToN, WrLLiAM GONNELLY. 

